


the meaning of roses

by oldpapertowns



Series: chemical christmas 2020 [16]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ficlet, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, chemical christmas, this was not supposed to be 1.7k goddammit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28120560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldpapertowns/pseuds/oldpapertowns
Summary: “Sokka,” says Zuko, hoping that his voice hasn’t gone flatly defensive like it does when he exposes himself even though he has nothing to fear.“Hm?” Sokka looks up from his computer, hair a mess from where he’s been running his hands through it. Zuko wants to take it out from the ponytail and redo it, but he makes himself focus on what he has in his hands.OR: zuko can’t use words so he uses roses to get his feelings across instead
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: chemical christmas 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036416
Comments: 6
Kudos: 122





	the meaning of roses

**Author's Note:**

> day 16 of chemical christmas - rose! prompt list by @saintmichale_ on instagram
> 
> apologies in advance for mistakes i started writing this in history class and i have to polish an essay that i pulled out of my ass by friday
> 
> on a different note, thank you guys for 100 comment threads and 15k total hits!! i never thought my writing would ever receive that much attention but . it did. so thank you!!!!!!!!

“Sokka,” says Zuko, hoping that his voice hasn’t gone flatly defensive like it does when he exposes himself even though he has nothing to fear.

“Hm?” Sokka looks up from his computer, hair a mess from where he’s been running his hands through it. Zuko wants to take it out from the ponytail and redo it, but he makes himself focus on what he has in his hands. That’s not too hard to do, given that the object is the reason for the pounding of his heart.

Zuko takes a breath and whips out the thing from behind his back, holding it out to Sokka and waiting.

A smile creeps over Sokka’s tired face as his eyes land first on the rose and then Zuko’s face. “For me?”

Zuko bows a bit in response, hand still stuck in front of him, praying that Sokka will just take the damn thing already.

Sokka does, admiring it for a second before placing it down carefully by his backpack. He turns his radiant grin on Zuko. “Thank you, Zuko.” He opens his mouth like he’s going to say more, but a notification from his phone pings before he can. The expression on Sokka’s face turns from pleased and flattered to slightly panicked, and he starts packing up. “Shit, I have to go. But thank you for this. Really.” (Zuko knows Sokka has to go. He purposefully chose to approach Sokka at a time he always leaves at.)

The rose is the last thing to be picked up, and Sokka clutches it to his chest as he shoots one last smile at Zuko. “See you soon!”

Then he’s out the door and sprinting away, backpack bouncing.

Zuko watches him go, only jolted out of his reverie when Iroh appears next to him.

“A nice young man, that one,” he comments with a smile on his face. “You have good taste, nephew.”

Zuko starts spluttering. “He’s- We’re not-”

“Ah, young love,” Iroh sighs. Then he looks at Zuko. “I believe you have a shift to finish, though.”

Zuko does, so he finishes his shift and tries not to overthink and overanalyze every one of his motions. (A bow? _Really?_ )

  
  


He doesn’t see Sokka for over a week, which is the longest amount of time they’ve gone without seeing each other. It’s strange without Sokka’s presence in the shop.

Zuko’s convinced himself that he scared Sokka away and his mood sinks lower and lower with every day that passes.

Then one day Zuko walks downstairs for his shift to find a bouquet of roses on the counter. He doesn’t think much of it until he sees Sokka standing by the roses. Zuko’s breath catches and he allows himself one second of staring until he bolts back upstairs.

He doesn’t have the strength to face Sokka right now. Not when he’d thought he’d scared Sokka away and _definitely_ when Sokka has a bouquet of roses that aren’t for Zuko. _Who are they for?_ Zuko’s traitorous mind asks. _That pretty girl with the brown hair and the leather jacket who came in once, who he smiled at like she’s his entire world? The shorter one with black hair with a cane, who he nearly always has a hand on?_

Zuko squeezes his hands into fists and flees back up the stairs and into his room. He says he has a headache when Uncle comes knocking on his door for his shift.

“There’s someone who wants to see you, nephew,” insists Iroh.

Zuko grits his teeth. “I told you, Uncle, I have a headache and a bunch of homework to get through. I’m not going to be working today.”

“Alright.” Iroh sounds resigned. “Come down when you feel better.”

Zuko goes down after closing time, when he’s sure Sokka will be nowhere to be seen. The bouquet of roses is still on the counter, and he blinks in surprise.

“Would you have come down if I’d mentioned that the person who wanted to see you had a gift?” Iroh muses.

Zuko opens his mouth to answer, then narrows his eyes. “I had homework.”

“Yes, yes.” Iroh picks up the bouquet and hands it to Zuko. “At any rate, these are yours.”

Zuko takes the bouquet. The roses are a vivid red, and there are- twelve of them? That can’t be right. Zuko counts them again. Twelve.

No fucking way.

There’s a cream-colored note nestled between two of the roses. Zuko plucks it out and reads it, his eyes growing wider with each word.

Iroh, reading over his shoulder, hums approvingly. “As I said before, Zuko, he's a nice young man! I’m glad you found each other.”

 _Me too,_ Zuko is about to say when he spots another note, this time written on binder paper and folded into a tiny square. He digs it out, opens it, and his fluttering heart sinks to the bottom of his stomach when he reads it.

_I think I misread this situation and scared you away. I saw you come down for your shift but then you ran and didn’t come back. Iroh said it was because you had a headache and homework but he didn’t see you come down. Also, you’re stubborn and wouldn’t let a headache get in the way of your shift._

_I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable at all. That was never my intention. I think it’ll be best if I keep my distance from now on, because I like you too much for us to ever just be friends. I could try, but I don’t think you’d like it and I can’t control myself that well._

_I just wanted to let you know my feelings for you. I’d love to kiss you and call you my boyfriend and all of that, but I think the roses make it obvious. A dozen red roses is a declaration of love and passion and a way of saying “you’re perfect” but you probably already know that because you know so many little things and that’s one of the many many MANY things I like about you. But maybe you don’t know the meaning of roses, because you got me a single rose. Love at first sight. If you fell in love with me at first sight, I think you need to get your vision checked._

_Suki and Toph (both scary. One wears leather jackets and is my ex. The other makes me buy her drinks like the annoying extra little sister I never knew I needed. I’m not involved with either of them, if you ever wondered that - but I don’t think you did. Man, I’m a mess) warned me against giving you so many roses but I’m a romantic and that part of me told me to put too much hope into the meaning of the rose you gave me. I searched the web for thirty minutes, reading about it._

_I’m rambling._

_If you don’t want to read all of that, here’s the gist of it: I fall too fast and too hard and I’ve loved every single second I’ve spent around you but I like you way too much to be just friends with you. I’m sorry._

_Yours,_ _  
_ _Sokka_

“Oh dear,” a concerned Iroh says. Zuko thinks that’s an understatement.

But his brain is kicking into gear, taking an idea and running with it.

“Uncle,” Zuko says slowly. “You have a friend who owns a flower shop, right?”

“Jeong Jeong! He actually co-owns the shop with Piandao now.” Iroh looks at Zuko, intrigued. “You have an idea, nephew. Tell me about it.”

Zuko does and watches delight spread across his uncle’s face.

“You can get them for me?” He rushes to confirm. “I want to do this on Saturday.”

Iroh beams, positively thrilled. “Of course! The two of them owe me more than a few favors, after all. It pays to be good at Pai Sho.”

  
  


Zuko weasels Sokka’s address out of Azula, who has information on everyone Zuko knows and quite a few people he doesn’t know. It’s admirable and more than a little terrifying. _That’s Azula for you,_ he thinks dryly.

Saturday rolls by all too soon, and Iroh’s dropping Zuko off in front of Sokka’s place.

Zuko somehow manages to make it to the door without dropping the roses, which are really heavy for a bunch of flowers. He swallows down his nerves and knocks on the door, half hoping that Sokka isn’t home.

Sokka responds, though, yelling, “Go away, Katara! I told you I didn’t want you to come over!”

If Zuko remembers clearly, Katara is Sokka’s sister. He knocks again.

There’s a loud groan, heavy footsteps, and the door flings itself open.

“What do you-” Sokka breaks off, eyes growing wide as he takes in what’s in front of him - Zuko in a button down and black jeans that could almost pass as slacks. “Zuko?”

“Hi.” Zuko very determinedly does _not_ wave, because he needs both of his hands for all these goddamn flowers. “I, uh, got you flowers.”

Sokka is still staring. “Flowers,” he repeats.

“Roses. A lot of them. Uh, a hundred of them. To be specific.” Zuko prays that Sokka knows what that means.

He apparently does, because Sokka is a goddamn sponge who soaks up every single little fact he ever reads or hears. Sokka’s eyes grow even wider. “A hundred roses,” he says, almost faintly.

“Yeah.” Zuko clears his throat, rather unnecessarily. “I hope you don’t mind. I mean, I know you don’t mind, since you said you wanted us to be boyfriends and I do too, but-”

Sokka lunges forward and seals their lips together, squishing the roses between their bodies. “Jesus, Zuko. Of _course_ I want us to be boyfriends.”

Zuko looks at Sokka, a smile growing on his face. “Yeah?”

Sokka nods fervently, then jumps a little when a door slams further down the corridor. He opens his door wider with a sheepish smile. “Yeah. Come inside?”

Zuko does and stops in his tracks when he sees a single dried rose on the wall. “Is that-”

“That’s the rose you gave me.” Sokka confirms his thoughts.

“You-” Zuko stares at Sokka. Then he pulls Sokka into another kiss, roses be damned.

Sokka responds eagerly, letting himself be pushed into the wall before turning them around to pin Zuko to the wall.

“You’re fucking perfect, you know that?” he asks when they part for breath.

“Ten roses,” Zuko says, panting just as hard.

Sokka grins, his eyes soft. “51 roses.”

“56.”

“99.”

Zuko can’t come up with a number of roses that conveys what he wants to say, so he kisses Sokka to get the message across.

And by how Sokka responds, he feels the same.

**Author's Note:**

> they’re sappy idiots!!
> 
> the literal meaning of roses, taken from various sites:  
> a single rose, as written, signifies love at first sight  
> a dozen “is a simple way to ask them to be yours”  
> a hundred is a gesture of devotion and a way to tell someone that your love for them will last 100 years  
> ten is a way to tell someone ‘you’re perfect’  
> 51 is for “if you only have one person on your mind”  
> 56 a way to say “my love for you will never change”  
> 99 ‘i’ll love you till the day i die’
> 
> my essay is staring me in the face with an incredible amount of comments on it so i will get back to that. thank you for reading!! stay safe, sane, and hydrated ily <33


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